SA · Townhouses
Townhouse depreciation schedules in South Australia
A townhouse is built differently from a detached house, and priced at a rate of its own per square metre: two levels, party walls, a smaller footprint carrying the same kitchen, bathrooms and services. It usually sits in a strata or community scheme, so a share of the common driveway, fencing and landscaping is yours too.
- Rate per m², SA 2015
- $1,343
- Townhouse built 2015
- $204,562
- Deduction a year
- $5,114
What a townhouse cost to build in South Australia
For a two-level townhouse of 160 m², at SA rates, excluding the plant listed separately. The capital works deduction is 2.5% of this cost a year for 40 years from completion, and a buyer claims what is left.
| Year built | Rate per m² | Construction cost | 2.5% a year | Years left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | $665 | $95,934 | $2,398 | 4 |
| 1995 | $754 | $110,305 | $2,758 | 9 |
| 2000 | $812 | $120,008 | $3,000 | 14 |
| 2005 | $1,097 | $165,237 | $4,131 | 19 |
| 2010 | $1,319 | $200,173 | $5,004 | 24 |
| 2015 | $1,343 | $204,562 | $5,114 | 29 |
| 2020 | $1,459 | $222,665 | $5,567 | 34 |
| 2025 | $1,749 | $267,962 | $6,699 | 39 |
Indicative, from the Ezy Depreciation cost database ledger-catalogue-2026-11-02. Years left are full income years from the current one, taking completion as 30 June of the year built.
A townhouse built in 2009, a year the table leaves out, cost about $199,568 at SA rates ($1,314 per m²), so about $4,989 a year at 2.5% for the 23 years left of its 40: see depreciation on a property built in 2009 for a standard house that year in every state. The table ends with 2025, the latest year our national series rests on a published figure for, so a townhouse built since, in 2026, is shown here at 2025's rates until its own year's are published: about $267,962 at SA rates, so about $6,699 a year at 2.5% over its 40 years.
How South Australia compares
In our cost database, South Australia is the cheapest of Australia's states and territories to build a townhouse in. Built in 2025, a two-level townhouse of 160 m² cost about $267,962 at SA rates ($1,749 per m²), $66,473 less than it would at the national benchmark rate of $2,182 per m², so its capital works deduction is about $1,662 a year lower.
No other state or territory costs less. The next cheapest is Queensland at $2,036 per m², and the same townhouse would have cost $148,586 more in Tasmania, the dearest.
Between 2015 and 2025 the cost of building the same townhouse in South Australia rose from $204,562 to $267,962, 31% more, so the deduction for one completed in 2025 is about $1,585 a year more than for one completed in 2015, with 10 more years of its 40 to run.
Capital works in a townhouse
Division 43, at 2.5% a year for 40 years
- 1The dwelling: two levels of structure, the stair, party walls, the garage and the courtyard's paving and fencing
- 2Your share of the common property: the shared driveway, visitor parking, boundary fencing, letterboxes, landscaping and lighting
- 3Common plant, in proportion to your unit entitlement: automatic gates, intercom, common lighting controls, fire equipment
- 4Renovations: a new kitchen, bathroom or laundry, or a room added, is capital works from the date it was finished, at 2.5% for 40 years if it was begun after 15 September 1987. What a renovation does to the plant and works it replaces
Plant typically found in a townhouse
Division 40, each at its effective life; new at today's prices
- Carpet8 yrs$4,545
- Blinds10 yrs$1,734
- Oven12 yrs$1,914
- Cooktop12 yrs$753
- Rangehood12 yrs$730
- Dishwasher8 yrs$1,276
- Exhaust fan10 yrs$128
- Smoke alarm6 yrs$122
- Gas hot water system12 yrs$2,191
- Garage door motor10 yrs$643
- Video intercom10 yrs$592
- Together, without ducted air conditioning$14,628
- Ducted air conditioning15 yrs$12,139
Not in the total: ducted air conditioning, priced as a whole house's ducted system supplied and installed, not as one in a two-level townhouse of 160 m², at the packaged unit's 15 years. It includes the ductwork, which is capital works at 2.5% a year, not plant, and no price we hold gives its share.
Deductible if bought new for the property while it is let; if it came with a second-hand property acquired since 9 May 2017, or was used while the property was the owner's home, generally not for an individual, though still valued for the capital gain. In a holiday townhouse its owner also stays in, even plant bought new since 9 May 2017 is generally not deductible once that private use is not occasional, from the income year it begins (section 40-27).
A townhouse's lot and the strata corporation in South Australia
In South Australia a townhouse is usually a lot in a scheme run by its strata corporation under the Strata Titles Act 1988. A community scheme has a community corporation instead, under the Community Titles Act 1996. Elsewhere it is an owners corporation in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, a body corporate in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory and a strata company in Western Australia, under each one's own Act.
Whether the townhouse's own structure is its owner's alone depends on the plan. Where a lot's boundaries are the inner faces of its walls, floors and ceilings, the walls, roof and slab are common property and each owner claims a share; where the lot takes in the building, as a survey-strata or community lot generally does, its two levels, stair, garage and courtyard are its owner's capital works in full. Built in 2025 at SA rates, a two-level townhouse of 160 m² cost about $267,962 ($1,749 per m², before the plant the builder installs, priced as plant, is taken out), about $6,699 a year, whichever way the plan divides it. What it leaves as common property is owned with the other lots: a lot with 120 of 1,000 entitlements carries 12% of it. For a shared driveway of 250 m² and 120 m of boundary fencing built in 2025, about $42,008 between them, that is about $5,041, or $126 a year at 2.5%.
Levies paid into the strata corporation's administrative fund, or a general sinking fund, are generally deducted as an expense in the year they are paid. A special levy for a particular capital work, a new gate or the driveway resurfaced, is not deductible as a levy; the work it pays for can be capital works, its share claimed from the day it is completed. Each lot's share of the common plant is its owner's own cost, so the $300 and $1,000 thresholds are met far more often than for the same item bought whole.
| Item | Cost | Life | The share | Deducted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gate motor | $1,805 | 10 yrs | $217 | deducted at once, generally |
| Irrigation controller | $395 | 5 yrs | $47 | deducted at once, generally |
| Irrigation pump | $270 | 5 yrs | $32 | deducted at once, generally |
| Fire extinguisher | $36 | 15 yrs | $4 | deducted at once, generally |
Indicative, at our cost database's installed prices. A scheme's own entitlements and plant are on its plan and asset register.
Common questions
What does a townhouse built in 2015 in South Australia claim in capital works?
For a two-level townhouse of 160 m², about $204,562 of construction cost at SA rates ($1,343 per m²), so about $5,114 a year at 2.5% for the 29 years left of its 40. A larger or better-finished townhouse costs more: the guide to build quality and storeys sets each tier's cost side by side, state by state.
Is a townhouse priced like a house or like a unit?
Neither. Our cost database has a factor of its own for townhouses, in each state: a compact two-level building with its own roof and services but no basement, lift or lobby.
How is the common property shared?
By the lot's unit entitlement on the strata or community plan. A lot with 120 of 1,000 entitlements carries 12% of the common driveway, fencing and gate motor.
Is the rate different for townhouses in SA?
The rate is federal: 2.5% a year for residential construction begun after 15 September 1987, everywhere in Australia. What differs is the cost it applies to. Construction in SA runs about 28% below the national benchmark, and a townhouse's structure costs 1.59× a two-storey house's per square metre.
Townhouses elsewhere
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.